DIVE!! is a four-book series written from 2000 to 2002 by Eto Mori. It had a shonen manga series serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday from 2007-2008, but picked up another one later in the seinen magazine Young Ace. It began serialization in July 2017 and ultimately ran for 3 volumes by 2018. An anime series by Zero-G started airing in July 2017 on the noitaminA block.
Outside of 2D, the book series inspired a few live adaptations; a live-action film released in 2008, and a stage play in 2018.
DIVE!! provides examples of these tropes:
- The Bet: Kayoko convinces the Mizuki executives to keep the club open on the condition that they will send one of their members to the next Olympics. This kickstarts the plot.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Matsuno, whose lack of presence probably rivals Kuroko's. Not to mention that Kensho Ono voices the two of them.
- Atsuhiko whenever he interacts (read: tries to beat him in something, anything at all, at least for once) with Youichi. Ironically, Youichi himself flat-out stated that Atsuhiko surpasses him in all fields. Too bad Atsuhiko is such a Nervous Wreck that those advantages are only good on paper.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Yup. And there is a whole variety of different kinds of pretty, going from The Cutie (Tomoki and Hiroya), the classic Bishōnen (Youichi, Tsuji and Atsuhiko), Hunks (Shibuki and Jirou) etc.
- Fanservice: The promotional art shows off the main characters' abs and legs. The animation drops a lot of Female Gaze close-ups, as well. Ultimately if you like hot boys in tight speedos then this is the anime for you.
- Foreshadowing:
- Kayoko's real motivation for trying to save MDC are gradually unveiled until #6 when all the little hints and pieces scattered through the episodes prior to it come in place and we finally learn the full story behind it.
- Green-Eyed Monster: It turns out that Ryou is this for Tomoki, who despite not being a very good diver gets attention from Coach Fujitani, Youichi, and their new coach Kayoko.
- Hard Truth Aesop: If you want success in your chosen field, you have to be willing to give up precious things to you, no questions asked. And you can't choose between them, it will either hold you back or come back to haunt you later.
- Heroic Lineage: Not as epic as it sounds. Youichi is the ace of the club, and his parents are both prominent divers. (His father was a former Olympian and his mother was considered the "Madonna" of the diving world.)
- Shibuki is a direct descendant of a line of fishers who would ritually jump into the ocean as a means of appeasing the deities who ruled the waters they've been fishing in, until the practice was abandoned in more recent times due to the obvious reasons.
- No Antagonist: Not even the more prominently unpleasant characters aren't really material for either a Big Bad or even a Big Bad Wannabe.
- The Ojou: Kayoko can be considered this to the MDC considering she's the granddaughter of the club founder, who's also the former president of the Mizuki sports company.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Kayoko gives a small one to Tomoki when he said he didn't want to follow her independent training schedule by pointing out how mediocre his diving career so far has been.
- Running Gag:
- EVERYONE has a hard time remembering Matsuno's name. Or even just noticing him, for that matter.
- Atsuhiko's rivalry with Youichi is seen as an In-Universe example by Tsuji.
- Save Our Team: The premise of the story is to save the MDC from closure.
- Setting Update: The original novels outright state that the year was 1999 and that the MDC was aiming for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The second manga adaptation, and probably the anime, changed the Olympics' location to Tokyo, probably referring to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- Sibling Triangle: The brothers Tomoki and Hiroya with Miu. Things reach a dramatic point in #5 and are part of the conflict in the following episode.
- Spoiler Opening: The opening spoils the outcome of the relationship between Tomoki and Miu.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: ... and quite often at that.
- The show repeatedly points out that success is something that can only be achieved by those who are willing to make sacrifices, such as friendship and even love.
- The relationship between Tomoki and Miu gradually shatters to pieces in no small part due to Tomoki being simply neglectful and insensitive towards her.
- Episode 7 shows the consequences of (reckless) Training from Hell.
- After having been the best among diver in his year even without putting in much effort, Ryou was utterly caught off guard by by Tomoki's sudden improvements, which is the real reason he became envious of him.
- Having spent years on perfecting himself for his diving career, Youichi is burdened in several aspects of life, most notably his dietary habits resulted in him gradually developing anorexia, as well as a heavily implied inferiority complex. Also, he never dated a girl.
- Being The Ace Bishounen, Youichi is expected by the higher ups to take the role in a commercial. Because it is so cheesy and he believes it to be part of the reason why he was selected for the Olympics team, Youichi doesn't want to take part in it.
- Stock Shōnen Hero: Ryou criticizes this type of character in the anime's fourth episode, mentioning that it's always the player that runs on The Power of Friendship that wins in fiction, but being that This Is Reality, it's not likely to happen.
- Taking Up the Mantle: Coach Fujitani speculates that the reason Kayoko wanted to become a coach at MDC was to carry on her grandfather's wish of developing the Japanese diving world.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: Considering how much Serious Business the sport of diving is to most of the cast, expect many, many scenes where they are wearing nothing but Speedos (for the men) and competition one-pieces (for the women).
- Wham Shot:
- At the end of episode 5, Tomoki discovers Miu in his younger brother's room.
- Youichi's exhausted expression at the end of episode 11.
